Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is reportedly looking at a direct listing for his $1.5 billion startup Asana to go public next year (AMZN)

Rosalie Chan

December 7, 2019 12:05 AM

The productivity software startup Asana is planning to go public next year and looking at a direct listing , the Financial Times'Miles Kruppa reported.

DM.JR.Asana

Asana, co-founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz , is valued at $1.5 billion and has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
Both Slack and Spotify did a direct listing when they went public, and Airbnb is also looking at doing the same when it goes public next year.
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The $1.5 billion productively software startup Asana, is looking at a direct listing as it plans to go public next year, the Financial Times'Miles Kruppa reported on Friday.

Asana , which was co-founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, announced earlier this year that it has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, growing over 90% in revenue last year. It was valued at $1.5 billion after raising a $50 million round last December.

Asana has hired Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase to advise on its listing and could execute a private share sale to raise money without an IPO, but it may still pursue the traditional IPO route, the Financial Timesreported .

Both Slack and Spotify used a direct listing when they went public, which allowed them to make shares available on the public market without fundraising. Since it's a more streamlined process than an IPO, it typically means lower fees for the banks involved. Airbnb is also looking at a direct listing when it goes public next year.

As direct listings become more popular in Silicon Valley, Bank of America has become a proponent of them.

Asana declined comment on this.

While Asana initially started as a hit among small startups, Moskovitz said that his company has been focusing on growing its international presence as well as building products for specific sectors and for large businesses . Just August, Asana launched Workload , which allows teams to track and redistribute work and aims to reduce worker burnout.

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